Local Tax Bill Late? Don't Worry, It's On The Way | Four MetroWest communities will issue delayed tax bills to property owners
Holliston Town Administrator Paul LeBeau had a couple stressful weeks in December.
State law mandates that municipal tax rates are set by Dec. 31 so that tax bills can be sent out and communities can collect tax revenue in January. But in late December Holliston and dozens of other communities around the state had still not received state certification of the tax rate.
LeBeau was counting down the clock to the deadline.
Officials at the state Department of Revenue, which certifies tax rates for all 351 cities and towns in the commonwealth, said a perfect storm of staffing shortfalls and a heavy workload led to a delay in certifying rates before the Dec. 31 deadline.
Beacon Hill lawmakers eventually passed an extension giving the state and communities until the end of January to certify and send out tax bills.
So, if residents and businesses do not see their property tax bills in the mail at the normal time this year, unfortunately, they will be coming eventually.
"We're certainly going to be taking advantage of that legislation that was passed. We need to," LeBeau said this week.
Chain Reaction
A handful of communities in MetroWest are sending bills out late or are sending out estimated bills this year including Holliston, Medway, Shrewsbury and Northborough.
Every three years a community must conduct a revaluation of all properties in the city or town, which then must be certified by the state. Bob Bliss, spokesperson for the DOR, said this year saw more communities doing a revaluation than normal. Plus, revaluations were happening for some of the largest cities in the state, including Boston.
On top of that, a key office within DOR was left shorthanded due to staffing changes, delaying processing times.
Bob Ellia, executive director of the Marlborough-based Massachusetts Association of Assessing Officers, applauded the state for extending the deadline saying that if the action had not been taken more communities would have had to issue estimated tax bills.
The estimated bills use the property values from the first two quarters of the fiscal year, which begins in July, to calculate the bill for the third quarter. Then, any difference between the estimated and actual bill would be made up on the fourth quarter bill.
Ellia is just hoping the 30 day extension will be enough.
"It's not unlikely we will see some communities not meeting even the new deadline," Ellia said.
Bliss, the DOR spokesperson, said as of this week about 65 communities still do not have a tax rate set, about twice as many as there normally are at this time of the year.
Some communities, such as Shrewsbury, have taken a safe route and issued estimated bills.
Daniel Morgado, Shrewsbury's town administrator, said in December he realized the state may be late and he was unsure as to whether the legislature would grant an extension. So, the town issued estimated bills, which will have to be returned in 30 days.
Morgado said the overall value in the town decreased slightly this year, but using a single tax rate the average resident will see a 1.9 percent increase or about $72 on the bill.
Bliss said with the extension until the end of January he expects most communities to be able to comply with the new deadline. He said there may be some small communities in the Western part of the state that are unable to meet the deadline, but those will have to issue estimated bills.
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